My Story

I never want to look back and wonder, what if? Life is a grand adventure, make it count.

I come from a background of working 2-5 jobs at any given time over the past 20 years and 60 - 80 work weeks were my norm. I had to pay my bills. I already lived what I thought was a pretty frugal lifestyle, but was still fueled by caffeine and never slept. My health was starting to deteriorate and I knew I had to make some changes. This could not go on any longer. I literally made time stop for one weekend and canceled everything I was involved with so I could get away and have a chance to reflect on my time, commitments and lifestyle. It was over a holiday weekend so I had given myself 4 days to do some reflection. I discovered that the things I wanted to prioritize was improving my health, working less hours so I had more time for life (to be later defined by what I wanted that to look like), a creative outlet and volunteering.

I made lists of what I was looking for and needed to do. I went through the lists again and picked out what I had to prioritize over the next couple years. I reminded myself to keep it realistic as not to overwhelm myself. My first steps were:

Drop out of two committees: One was a year long commitment to plan a week long conference. One was a commitment to plan a special event.

See a chiropractor: I was experiencing such back and neck pain and would start collapsing from dizziness and headaches. I had to go every 2 weeks for 6 months to address the complications. When the pain and dizziness stopped, I could move to every 3 weeks and would come it earlier if needed. It was a life savor. I still go every couple months to maintain the corrections.

Education: I wanted my masters and one of my current employers would pay for it. I stayed immersed in my draining lifestyle for two years so I could emerge with my masters and no debt.

Adjust work commitments: I knew I needed to earn more. I tried interviewing for jobs, but it was so hard to get away and to be discreet about it. I was out of PTO so had to take a different strategy. I knew I had to resign so I had time to do research and interviews. I actually picked up more hours and when I had saved enough money to pay for rent, utilities, car payments, health insurance and a little extra for emergencies for 3 months, I resigned. I timed it so it was the first of the month since my employer would pay for the full month of insurance the month you quit.

My next round was:

Downsize: I wanted to take one weekend to go through everything I owned and only put back what I actually used. I wanted to do this for two reasons. One was because "materialistic stuff" was starting to make me feel claustrophobic. I also knew that with taxes coming up, I could donate these items and get a tax break. That extra money would help support me when I knew I was going to be looking for new employment. I planned for all this downsizing to happen during one weekend. To my surprise, I only made it through one room. I had been living in my apartment for 11 years and hadn't realized how much I had accumulated. This became my only step in my next round. Over the year, I would have to dedicate 5 weekends to going through everything in my apartment. I tracked everything that I donated and made sure to get acknowledgement receipts from the organizations. I also made a collections of things I knew I could potentially reuse to save myself money.

I went through my lists and created another round to tackle the following year:

Learn new skills / explore DIY options: Another way to save money is not to spend it. Don't let sales beckon you just because it is a sale. Do you really need the item(s)? I became very conscious of what I was spending money on. With the type of work I was looking for, I knew I was going to have to update my wardrobe. Instead of buying new clothes, I invested in a sewing machine and got some books about sewing that were on sale at the library for $1. Between the books and online videos and tutorials, I taught myself how to sew. I also got into making crafts and gifts. Over the next two years, I spent $20 on all birthday and holiday gifts for my family and friends. I took the items that I had saved from downsizing and updated them to personalize them as gifts. I only spent $5 on wrapping paper - using scrapbook paper that was on sale. I put larger items in the paper bags I got from my groceries. I spent $10 on my annual holiday card. I made a letter to email and only spent money on stamps to send the letter to people without emails.

Bills: Through my network, a friend told me one way to find financial support was to apply at the local food shelf. Different places have different requirements. I contacted the director at the local food shelf and told them about my situation. They approved getting groceries for a couple months until I was back on my feet and had secured a new job. This was a wonderful surprise and a great help and allowed me to have some extra weeks in the job hunt.

Go Digital: As a continuation of my downsizing goals, I wanted to go digital and have less paper around my apartment. This led me into exploring creating a blog and website. After I applied for every new job I could find that had been posted, I spent time teaching myself how to build a website. I keep coming up with new ideas about the layout so I can stay organized. I am most happy with this one. This is also the 10th time I have rebuilt it. In additional to taking on more DIY projects, I discovered this was a great creative outlet that I had been searching for.

Read: Some people may take this for granite, but I was able to read my first non-school book from the library after 15 years of living a hectic lifestyle. It was pure joy.

Time: The only reason this isn't higher on my lists of things to do was because I new I needed to take some steps prior to this in order to have more time. During my job search, I only applied for places that were closer to where I lived and paid over a certain rate. By staying focused on this goal, I was able to secure a position that cut my daily drive time down by two hours. The gift of time was amazing!

It has been a journey to get to this point of my life and I am thankful for the lessons I have learned along the way. Many times, the journey to get to where you want to go can be rough. Some journeys are inspired by dreams and some out of necessity. In the end, by making the opportunity for the initial weekend of self-reflection, I feel like I have been able to transition to a life of simplicity and it has made me a healthier and more well-rounded person. I have more experience prioritizing life's goals, have less stress, have been able to create more time for travel, fitness and giving back to the community and love the creative outlets I have been able to dive into with DIY projects and even more recently, trying my hand at new recipes.

During the winter of 2018, I will be picking up extra shifts at work so I can pay for some summer trips I have planned. I will also be focusing on some books so I will not be making as many blog posts.

I have created an active Pinterest page to collect some more ideas on many different topics. I have a Facebook page to share some of my favorite photos and videos, but have to admit I am not on there very often. I look forward to connecting with you and hearing about your adventures. Have a great day!

Best Wishes,

​J. E. Williams

The Meaning of "Golden Tree"

"A frog jumps secure in the knowledge ​that it has found the courage to fly."

​This picture and quote started it all. These have been on a post- it sitting on my desk since the fall of 2014. Somehow, I had ran across an article about a frog that lived in Australia & New Zealand (places I've always wanted to go), many of the habitats and numbers are declining (had been associated with a feeling I was experiencing at the time with why a certain type of people with positive and inspiring attitudes were declining) and when handled, they submit a mucus that has shown anticancer activity (a phrase that stood out since my Grandma had passed away from cancer). I knew it was fate and this was going to be the phrase of a significant chapter of my life, "Golden Tree." When I had to come up with the name of my website, I went straight to this phrase.